How long have you had your cutlery, how many sets?

[Oneminutespeace1]

How many sets of cutlery do you have, and do you have enough when friends come over?

My Viners 18/10 set is for 8 (household of 4). We currently use disposables if lots of people come and have a buffet style rather than sit-down meal. I was thinking 10 or 12 would be better.

Its also 15 years old and fairly scratched. It’s been discontinued so difficult/expensive/in some instances impossible to find replacement pieces. However it has sentimental value.

I’m trying to work out whether to carry on with the existing set, get more used pieces where I can and ignore its scratched condition. Or give up and buy a new set for 12 people, nice quality, for less money than supplementing my old set, for which I could easily and relatively cheaply purchase replacements if needed as it’s a current style.

I have a 12 place setting set that we got in BHS over 30 years ago. Two sizes of knives & forks, soup spoons, dessert spoons, teaspoons, serving spoons. All still looks great…. I’ve never had more than 12 people for a sit down meal and if I have a bigger party then it’s finger food….

Our favourite was a cheap but very solid set from Argos when we moved in together with very little money. It's still going strong 20 yrs later, I'd love to add to the set as we all fight over "the good forks" at the dinner table.

3 sets:

Set one inherited from DM, and probably as old as I am. Used for high days and holidays.

Set two bought when I married exH in the early 80's.

Set three - steak knives and forks, received at above wedding.

I also have a random collection of various other things that don't match any of the sets, such as cake forks, fish knives, coffee spoons, an ancient tablespoon I use for baking, and some bone-handled knives (probably early plastic truth be told) which we use as butter knives.

I’m a serial cutlery buyer and although I have several sets they must all match at the time of laying the table. Most of mine are metal sandwiched between coloured plastic.

1 white, bought in packs of 3 from the supermarket. Probably 15 of each. Donated to DS when he left home. A bit 1990s but easily replaced.

Another white to replace the above. 6x
1 orange, to match my summer plates. Bought this summer on offer for €10. 6x
1 red, to match my ironstone service. A wedding present with salad servers and ladle. 6x
1 blue, inherited from DMIL. 6x
1 stainless steel for picnics or barbecues with serrated steak knives. 6x
1 plastic used for the children and on days out. 4x

1 set with all the extra serving pieces, fish cutlery, cake forks, soup spoons. Solid stainless steel. Inherited from DMIL. 12x
I use the cake forks regularly and also prefer latte spoons over teaspoons.

OP, I’d go for the first option (buy as you need) because a lot more will come your way over the years…

We were given DH's grandparents' canteen of EPNS/bone handled cutlery (12 of everything, including fruit knives and forks) and my DM got it all refurbed through trade contacts in Sheffield when we were engaged in 1990. And we bought 8 place settings of a simple Robert Welch stainless design 20 years ago which we use every single day. The EPNS is mainly used if we host for Christmas or special events because the knives need hand-washing. Doubt we shall ever need to buy any more!

Less than eight years as that’s how long we’ve lived in this house. Bought some Jamie Oliver branded cutlery from Homesense. It’s nice quality and weighty and I bought two sets of four. However we’ve lost about 3 forks and 2 teaspoons and I can’t find it for sale anymore.

Have you tried looking on eBay? Sometimes you can find replacements or part sets which could make yours compete again.